Eight months into our mission with LyondellBasell, after carrying out projects like SAP system stabilization, carve out, and oil stocks management, the ultimate phase of Conseils-Plus assignment was to train all key users.
Hence, as we prepared to hand them over the complete control and management of their daily operations, the objective was to provide them with the tools – technical and business – to carry on seamlessly.
For a few of us rookies, training, i.e., standing on the other side of the desk, clicking through – thanks to the useful and user-friendly Christmas gift – power point slides was a first in a professional setting.
We all had to prepare several presentations (business scenarios, SAP SD/MM – FI/CO, Master Data Vendor, Material, Customer…). Thanks to the help and supervision of senior consultants, we were able to put together a complete package of training materials.
Master Data Pricing was probably the most challenging training for me, as I pretty much started from scratch on that knowledge scale. Therefore, it was also the most valuable as it helped me enhance skills on a central SAP topic in a short stint.
My reaction fresh off that training must have been: “Boy, it ain’t that easy!”
Indeed, public speaking, keeping an audience alive and focused for several hours, time management, and most importantly conveying a thorough lecture are not trouble-free enterprises. That is why a senior consultant was usually attending the session to be of assistance and also to provide feedbacks afterwards.
Reflecting on the experience, I hope to have gained a better appreciation of what it will take to be a first-rate trainer. Constant technical expertise improvement is obviously a must. But gauging audience technical levels and expectations, managing silent times, handling the occasional challenging trainee, being articulate, maintaining a professional yet pleasant atmosphere, looking like an expert at all time, are equally essential skills to develop.
“Practice is the best of all instructors” wrote Publilius Syrus, Latin writer of the first century B.C. The experience has been quite enlightening and I can only wish to get the chance to practice again soon.
Benoit Graziani, Consultant Confirmé.
